It's been snowing in little flurry-bursts for almost 24 hours, now.
Yesterday, after a morning spent at some friends' house (the boys and ours - a swank family, met through a common interest and social obligation: the schooling of children), we walked back the short way home, through the wet drippings from the cold, grey sky. It was strangely lovely.
We passed a parked car with Belgian license plates. Hunks of snow still clung to the bumper. The boys and I saw it at the same time; Leo pointed and cried, "It's snow!" and Tomi called out, hopefully, "It's going to be Christmas-time, Mommy?!" I remarked to myself that the weatherman had been spot-on for days, now - perhaps the longest stretch, ever.
Back at home, we had a light lunch and were pottering around, when - lo and behold! - the raindrops began magically transforming themselves into snowdrops. And then... snowflakes! The boys were thrilled. Tomi asked again, with hope ever present in his little voice, "There's going to be presents, now?!" If you haven't noticed, our boys have recently become keenly aware of the gift-giving that certain "special days" entail.
Speaking of which: their birthday is coming up quickly - though not quickly enough for them, it would seem.
My boys (especially Tomi) have gone utterly over the top about Spider-Man (which is how we're forced to spell it, now). When we asked them what they'd like for their birthday, Tomi blurted out, "SPIDER-MAN! An' black Spider-man an' red Spider-Man an' Spider-Man car an'..." Somewhere in the litany, Leo joined in with, "LOTS OF! Spider-Man things!"* And so on...
So. The other night, Tomi was softly but insistently crying in his bed (Leo had already fallen asleep). I thought he was saying, "I want sump-ting (to) eat," but when I went in to investigate, he was saying, "I want my birt-day (to) be here!" He was so excited about the prospect of getting a Spider-Man thing, that it was driving him to tears! We had a long, quiet talk, and things seemed to calm down. He got to sleep, anyway. But then, there were Spider-Man-obsessive sketches all last weekend, too (some were REALLY funny)... And Bat Man. But especially Spider-Man. Oh-yé!
Oh, and two days ago, Tomi came into the kitchen (where I was preparing dinner, which is when the boys have ample time to get into all of the things that they can't when I'm in the living-etc-room with them) sporting my boa-like scarf and black leather gloves, smiling slyly and saying, "Mommy, look! I'm Bat Cat! I have griffes!" (Bat Cat is their name for Cat Woman and 'griffes' is French for claws.)
*Leo is also really into Spider- and Bat Man everything. But he's got an obsession all his own, which stems almost certainly from his love of theatrics. To wit: princess things. Every time they go to Felix and Eliza's house, Tomi makes a bee-line for the superhero outfits; and although he's more than happy to participate in all of that, Leo waits until Eliza's princess accoutrements have been shed... and then he surreptitiously dons it all himself.p.s. Felix and Eliza recently moved house. The Spider-Man pictures are from just before the move, and the Princess pictures are from a few days after the move. There are many other really cute pictures (of kids and adults alike) from both gatherings of friends, but since work is calling, I'm going to have to post them later...
